The Omicron coronavirus variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain and reduces vaccine efficacy but causes less severe symptoms according to early data, the World Health Organisation said on Sunday. The Delta variant, first identified in India earlier this year, is responsible for most of the world’s coronavirus infections. But South Africa’s discovery of Omicron – which has a large number of mutations – last month prompted countries around the world to impose travel bans on southern African countries and reintroduce domestic restrictions to slow its spread. The WHO said Omicron had spread to 63 countries as of December 9. Faster transmission was noted in South Africa, where Delta is less prevalent, and in Britain, where Delta is the dominant strain. But it stressed that a lack of data meant it could not say if Omicron’s rate of transmission was because it was less prone to immune responses, higher transmissibility or a combination of both. Early evidence suggests Omicron causes “a reduction in vaccine efficacy against infection and transmission”, the WHO said in a technical brief. “Given the current available data, it is likely that Omicron will outpace the Delta variant where community transmission occurs,” it added. Meanwhile, more than half a billion people globally were pushed into extreme poverty last year as they paid for health costs out of their own pockets during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank have said. The pandemic disrupted health services globally and triggered the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, making it even more difficult for people to pay for healthcare, Reuters quoted a joint statement from both the organizations as saying. “All governments must immediately resume and accelerate efforts to ensure every one of their citizens can access health services without fear of the financial consequences,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.